Both Uses of

minute

in

Selected Essays

But, unfortunately, this original unit, this fountain of power, has been so distributed to multitudes, has been so minutely subdivided and peddled out, that it is spilled into drops, and cannot be gathered.
Chpt 1. *

minutely = in small portions

He carried his powerful execution into minute details, to a hair point; finishes an eyelash or a dimple as firmly as he draws a mountain; and yet these, like nature's, will bear the scrutiny of the solar microscope.
Chpt 9.

minute = small

Definitions:

(1) (minute as in: minute size)
small, exceptionally small, or insignificant
(2) (minute as in: minute description)
detailed (including even small considerations); and/or careful (done with care)
(3) (minutes as in: keep the minutes)
a written record of what happened at a meeting
(4) (meaning too common or rare to warrant focus)
Much more commonly, minute and minutes refer to a period of time lasting 60 seconds.

Less commonly, they refer to a measurement of angle where 60 minutes make up a single degree, and where a right angle has 90 degrees and a circle has 360 degrees.